


Seventeen Times Two

by Kisatsel



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: Family, M/M, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 22:25:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6168961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kisatsel/pseuds/Kisatsel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You could write to him,” Ari said. “So that he can get to know you. You’re good at writing letters.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seventeen Times Two

**Author's Note:**

> This is a scene which I originally wrote as part of my other Dante/Ari fic [Palette](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5956498) to take place after the porn and then cut because I couldn't fit it in and I was impatient to post the story, but I like it enough to post it as its own thing.

“Did I nap?” Ari’s voice, groggy, coming from the other end of the bed. I turned round to watch him as he rolled over and blinked at the ceiling. His face was indented with creases from the pillow. 

“You napped,” I confirmed. “Guess I must have worn you out.”

“You know I lifted weights for an hour earlier and then walked to your house, right?” Ari said. 

As it happened I did know this and appreciated it greatly, and he was fully aware of this fact, which was why I contrived to sound unimpressed. “Yeah, whatever, tough guy.”

I had eased myself carefully out from under him and got dressed once I felt Ari drifting off, and was sitting on the bed thumbing through a book of short stories my dad had given me. The book was _weird_. I put it down. 

“What have you been doing?” Ari said.

“Reading,” I said. “Thinking.”

“About?” Ari said the word lazily, his eyes still closed.

“My little brother. Imagining what he might be like at our age. I’ll be in my thirties by then. An actual grown-up.” I couldn’t imagine it really, that far into the future, but it was there in the back of my mind like an island glimpsed lurking on the horizon.

“You could write to him,” Ari said. “So that he can get to know you. You’re good at writing letters.”

I turned the idea over in my head. “Shouldn’t I wait until he learns to read?”

Ari yawned expansively, and tucked the covers around himself. “No, start now,” he said. “But save them until he’s old enough to understand, so that he gets a record of you over the years.”

I scooted over to the other side of the bed where Ari was and ran my hand gently through his hair. “Has your brother written back to you yet?”

“Not yet,” Ari said, and then was quiet. Part of me was pissed off – who the hell did this guy think he was, Ari’s no-good murdering probably homophobic asshole brother, getting a letter from Ari every week and maybe he was dropping them in the trash without even looking at them? How dare he?

“Maybe I will write to him,” I said. “My brother, I mean, not yours. You can too, if you want.”

Ari’s eyes, which had drifted closed again, flicked open. “Why would I write to your kid brother?” 

“Just for fun! It was your idea anyway.” 

“You’re his big brother, not me. Who am I to him?”

The words _Uncle Ari_ dropped into my head just then, but I kept that one to myself because even if the boy was crazy about me, which he clearly was, I was one hundred percent certain that marriage had never crossed his mind. Be like Ari; keep some cards close to your chest. Timing is everything. 

“Okay, fine,” I said. “I’ll write to my brother and you keep writing to your brother and neither of us will get any letters back for the foreseeable future but we’ll keep on writing anyway.”

“Sounds about right,” Ari said cheerfully. 

"I’m gonna tell him about you, obviously. And about how to stay on mom’s good side and which books he definitely needs to read in what order. God, there are so many things you need to know!” My mind was already shifting gears, sifting through the things I had figured out about being a person and categorizing them into Dante-specific and generally applicable. 

“Good thing he’s got you then,” Ari said, and I could tell from the way he was looking at me with the corner of his mouth tilted up that he really actually meant that. 

“Yeah,” I said. “I suppose it is.”


End file.
